


baby you are my picket fence

by marthenotmartha



Series: it's time for me to fall apart [4]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Coda, Coming Out, Fluff, M/M, you should probably read the other works in the series before reading this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 13:55:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10855371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marthenotmartha/pseuds/marthenotmartha
Summary: “Harry,” he says, “have you ever thought about like, coming out? To the public, I mean.”Harry looks up from his phone at that, and he’s not looking shocked or horrified like a small part (a very, very small part) of Niall had worried he would. He’s smiling brightly, staring at Niall like he can’t believe what he’s just heard.“Yeah,” he says.or, in which Niall and Harry are happy. Very happy.





	baby you are my picket fence

**Author's Note:**

> posting this over a year after i actually wrote it, which is probably silly but i didn't like it back then, but now i do so here it is! i recommend reading the other works in this series first, as it will make a lot more sense that way. enjoy!
> 
> title from fall out boy's miss missing you

bzzzz. bzzzz. bzzzz.

Niall blinks his eyes open slowly, trying to figure out where the noise is coming from. He reaches out to grab his phone, but when he unlocks it there’s nothing, no notifications or anything. And the sound is still there. He looks at his phone for a few seconds, unable to comprehend what it is that’s going on this early.

It’s not before he hear a shuffling noise next to him that he realizes that it isn’t his phone that’s making the noise. It’s Harry’s.

“Harry, babe,” Niall mumbles, nudging Harry gently with his foot. “Turn of yer’ feckin’ phone, will ya’?” Harry doesn’t budge though, only lets out a grunt and buries his head further into the pillow. Niall sighs and kicks him. “Harry, I swear to god, if you don’t wake up, I’m gonna-” 

Instead of finishing his threat, he chooses to throw a pillow at Harry instead, and finally, Harry wakes up.

“I’m up, I’m up!” he says urgently, sitting up and trying to figure out what exactly it is that’s going on. 

“Turn off the phone, Harry,” Niall grumbles.

“Oh, shit, yeah,” Harry says, and after a couple of seconds Niall is met with blissful silence. He lets out a sigh of relief before he turns his head to look at Harry.

“Who the hell is calling you this early?” he asks.

“Promise not to laugh?” Harry says, laying down on his side and throwing a hand over Niall’s stomach.

“Me? Laugh at you?” Niall says, smiling, “Since when have I ever?” He tries to look innocent, but at Harry’s unamused look he gives up and chuckles. “Fine, I promise not to laugh.”

“‘S just my yoga instructor,” Harry mutters, and promises be damned, Niall lets out a snort at that.

“Why’s your yoga instructor calling you at eight in the mornin’, Haz?”

“Well, I didn’t actually pick up, so I can’t be sure,” Harry says, trailing his hand lightly up and down Niall’s chest and stomach, sending shivers down Niall’s spine. “But lately she’s been asking me all kind of questions.”

Niall scoots closer to Harry, tucks some of his hair behind his ear. “What kind of questions?” he asks, raising an eyebrow, going for a tone of jealousy, not really getting it.

Because it’s a joke, really. They’re good, have been for a couple of months now. It’s been hard with Harry having commitments in L.A. every once in a while, but they’ve made it work, and they’re just really good.

“Oh, you know, the basics,” Harry says, “If I’m single, what my sign is, whether I’d be interested in joining her and her husband for dinner-”

Niall bursts our laughing at that, making Harry smile fondly at him.

“I’m not joking, Nialler, she genuinely did ask me that!” he protests, “But to be fair, she also said her daughter, who happens to be very single and very beautiful, was going to be there. So that’s probably what she wants to ask about.”

“What, you didn’t tell her no?” Niall says, a confused smile grazing his lips. 

“I didn’t want to make things awkward!” Harry protests, with a pout, which causes Niall to laugh at him again. “She’s a really nice lady and a good instructor, so I said I’d think about it, and now she’s probably calling to ask if I’ve decided. And it’s not like I could just tell her ‘sorry, I’m currently dating my band mate, Niall Horan, and I don’t think he’d be too happy with me if I accepted’, could I?”

“Well,” Niall says, slowly leaning towards Harry, “when you put it like that it totally makes sense.” They’re millimetres apart now, Harry is breathing slowly, but just as he’s leaning in for the kiss, Niall shifts and straddles him instead. “Guess I’ll have to mark you up, eh?” he mutters, close to Harry’s ear. “Make sure she knows you’re taken.”

He presses slow kisses down Harry’s jaw and neck, before he reaches his pulse point and starts sucking. Harry whines from underneath him, his hands having found their way to his hips. 

“Niall,” he gasps, but Niall doesn’t listen, just moves his lips to another spot and starts the same procedure over again. 

Later, after Niall has sucked the last bruise into Harry’s skin and they’ve both gotten out of bed, they’re in the kitchen eating breakfast. Harry’s on his phone, texting someone. Probably Nick or Jeff, Niall thinks. Or maybe his mum. Niall’s alternates between eating and looking at Harry, smiling whenever Harry looks back at him.

And Niall is so in love, sitting there like that. Harry occasionally snickering at something someone texted him, the bruises Niall left on his skin out in the open for anyone and everyone to see. He’s so in love, and he wants to scream it at anyone who’ll listen.

“Harry,” he says, “have you ever thought about like, coming out? To the public, I mean.”

Harry looks up from his phone at that, and he’s not looking shocked or horrified like a small part (a very, very small part) of Niall had worried he would. 

He’s smiling brightly, staring at Niall like he can’t believe what he’s just heard.

“Yeah,” he says, and clears his throat, “I mean, yes, yeah, of course.”

“Really?”

“All the time, Niall.”

Niall let’s out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding in, and a smile spreads across his face. “Me too,” he says.

“So, d’you wanna do it now?” Harry says, as if it’s nothing, as if he hasn’t just suggested that they announce their relationship to the world.

“Now?” Niall asks, raising his eyebrows and staring at Harry. The smile is still there, still bright, but the happiness is joined with a hint of disbelief. “Like, right this second now, or later now?”

“Right now, why not?” Harry says, stretching across the table to take Niall’s hand in his. “No time like the present, right?”

“Yes, yeah, I mean,” Niall splutters, squeezing Harry’s hand, “we can do that, but like, how? And shouldn’t we talk to someone? The lads, or like, management? I feel like someone should know first, I just-”

And Niall’s still happy about this, he is, but he’s also panicking slightly. He wants this, and Harry does too, but what if it goes badly? What if it fucks everything up for the band, or what if people hate that they’re together, or what if-

“Babe,” Harry says, “you’re freaking out, and you shouldn’t. Just breathe, it’s gonna be fine. I’ll just post something on Instagram, and it’ll be over with.”   
Harry’s smile is reassuring, and Niall... Niall loves Harry so much. He takes a deep breath, and smiles back at Harry.

“Let’s do it then,” he says, bringing Harry’s hand up to his mouth and kissing it.

Harry’s practically beaming at him, and before Niall knows what’s happening Harry’s on his feet and pulling Niall into a kiss. Niall’s hands quickly find their way to the back of Harry’s head to free his hair from the bun Harry had it tied into.

Later, once they’ve managed to stop kissing each other, Harry drags Niall into the living room, and settles both of them down on the sofa.

“So,” he starts, “if it’s alright with you, I think I know which picture I’d like to use.”

“Been takin’ sneak pictures of me, Styles?” Niall says with a smirk. If Niall didn’t know better, he would’ve sworn he could see a blush creeping onto Harry’s cheeks.

“Here,” he says, ignoring Niall’s remark, and hands him his phone. On the screen is a picture of Niall sleeping. He’s on his stomach, his hair sticking out in odd places and the sun streaming in through the window. “Took it a couple of days ago, it’s been killing me that I couldn’t post it anywhere.”

Niall doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know how to respond to that. So he kisses the top of Harry’s head, and nods his consent. Harry beams up at him, and gets to work making it fit for Harry Styles’ Instagram profile. 

After he’s done editing it, and Niall was surprised to find that he hadn’t gone with a black and white filter, he shifts away so that Niall won’t be able to see his phone screen anymore. 

After a few more taps, he looks up at Niall, and says with a massive smile, “Mr. Horan, I do believe you have an Instagram notification to attend to.” Niall smiles fondly at him and shakes his head before unlocking his phone and opening Instagram.

At the very top is the picture of himself, and below it a caption that reads: I must be the luckiest man in the world @niallhoran All the love x H.

Niall shuffles over to where Harry's sitting and plants a deep, loving kiss on his lips. "Nah," he says, "Reckon that's me."


End file.
